'In slow motion', from Renato Tapajós: the story of the book, historical experience of repression and literary narrative

Keywords in English

Brazilian military regime
Censorship
History of book
Leftist guerillas
Testimonial literature

Abstract in English

In 1977, Alfa-Omega, a publish house which opposes the Military Regime, published Em Câmara Lenta, by Renato Tapajós. It was the first book to analyze the leftist guerilla groups strategies and to denounce the brutality of the torture enforced by the military and the police against the activists of those groups. Tapajós had been a militant of Ala Vermelha, an urban Maoist guerilla group, and had been jailed from 1969 to 1974. Publicized all over the country, the book was furiously received by the conservative sectors of Brazilian society. In a surprising move, Tapajós was jailed in São Paulo in July of 1977 and stayed 10 days without any communication, under the accusation that Em Câmara Lenta was a "tool of the revolutionary guerrilla". Formally, the book was not forbidden and legally, there was no problem to publish and publicize it. Just after 15 days of Tapajós got the jail, the book was formally censured and it was made illegal to sell it. Taking in consideration the complex repercussions of this event, the initial aim of this dissertation is to demonstrate how the leftist guerrilla experience was transformed in a literary narrative. In order to do that, I present a study of this book history, the criminal procedures enforced against Renato Tapajós (using the documentation of the State Department of Political and Social Order, DOPS, the political police of São Paulo, produced during the police investigation) and in favor of him, as well as the testimonial narrative of the romance and its critical reception by the public and the specialists.

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